BBC News, Leicester
SuppliedThe partner of a man who died after being hit by a car has said she will forever be haunted knowing he was left to die alone without dignity by the roadside.
Tommy Hunter’s body was found by his friends in a hedge next to a road in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, after he did not return home from a night out in the town in December 2023.
On Monday, Brandon Beesla appeared at Leicester Magistrates’ Court and admitted driving a vehicle, a Pontiac Firebird, which was in a condition likely to cause danger of injury on Burton Road on 10 December – the night Mr Hunter, 27, went missing.
Beesla, 28, was fined £2,000 and banned from driving for 12 months.
After the hearing, Mr Hunter’s partner Chloe Mefford told the BBC: “No punishment will ever bring Tommy back but justice hasn’t been done.”
Earlier, prosecutor Sabrina Sahota had told the court Beesla had called a friend “in a distressed state” in the early hours of 10 December and said he had hit something in the road.
Ms Sahota said Beesla was “in a panic” and asked the friend “what if I have hit something, someone, or an animal?”
The court heard the friend had driven to Burton Road to meet Beesla and search the area with torches before leaving.
Ms Sahota said Beesla had followed his friend home in the Firebird which had a damaged headlight and shattered windscreen.
The friend had later called the police, Ms Sahota said, and Beesla handed himself in.
During the hearing, Ms Mefford, 26, from Swadlincote, Derbyshire, said her partner had been cruelly taken away from her and their young son Harrison that night.
In a victim personal statement she read to the court, she said: “Tommy was hit by a car and left at the scene to die alone without any help and without any dignity.
“If Brandon had done the right thing, maybe things could have been different.
“Tommy was simply walking home from a night out, a route that he had walked regularly as he used to live in Woodville.”
The court heard Mr Hunter’s friends and family had begun looking for him and his body was found by the road on 11 December.
Ms Mefford added: “The fact that he lay there alone undiscovered for 29 hours is something that will haunt me forever.
“Since that night, my life has been shattered in ways I can barely put into words.
“Our home, once filled with love and laughter, now feels unbearably empty.”
SuppliedRebecca Barrowcliffe, mitigating, said Beesla, who has two previous convictions for driving with excess alcohol, was living with the burden of what happened.
“The remorse and regret of what happened will likely never leave him,” she said.
“Nothing he could ever say or do will ease the suffering of Mr Hunter’s family.
“The police report is clear. Mr Beesla is not culpable for the death of Mr Hunter.”
Beesla, of Hillsdale Road, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, was also ordered to pay a £800 victim surcharge and court costs of £85.
A prosecution application that he be asked to forfeit the Pontiac Firebird was not granted.
A spokesperson from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with Mr Hunter’s family and loved ones for their sudden and tragic loss.
“As would be expected in these circumstances, the evidence in this case was assessed in considerable detail.
“Following the assessment of this evidence, including phone records and a thorough investigation by a police collision expert, it was determined that there was no realistic prospect of a conviction for any offences other than the offence of driving a vehicle in a dangerous condition.”
